1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging device and an imaging method, and more particularly to an imaging device and imaging method that can prevent deterioration in the image quality of a still image captured in actual imaging that is caused by motion of the subject or motion of the imaging device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, when imaging a subject in a state in which the subject is moving or the camera is moving, so-called subject blur or camera blur (also called camera shake) occurs within the image and deteriorates the image quality.
Consequently, imaging devices have been proposed which have various measures taken to prevent blurs from occurring in images.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-045340 discloses a device that by comparing imaging environment characteristics such as focus distance characteristics, exposure characteristics and color characteristics prior to actual imaging with those at the time of actual imaging, determines the deterioration in image quality caused by some reason such as an unforeseen change in light source, camera shake or subject movement and generates a warning.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-214659 discloses a device which has a mechanical sensor that detects the angular acceleration in the yaw direction and pitch direction with respect to the optical axial direction of the camera, a first area sensor which receives light of the subject image, and a second area sensor which takes an image of the eye of the photographer that is looking at the view-finder. The device determines the state of the camera in accordance with the output of each sensor, and corrects blurs in accordance with the determined results.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-134385 discloses a device which, when obtaining a wide image of a dynamic range by synthesizing two images of different exposures, determines whether a difference that arose between the two captured images of different exposures is due to either subject movement or camera shake and then conducts image synthesis.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-022645 discloses a device that detects respective motion vectors from the display periphery and the display center to detect motion of the display overall (i.e. camera shake) that excludes motion of the subject.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-210473 discloses a device that extracts a characterizing portion of the principal subject from the original image to detect a motion vector.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-358187 discloses a device that performs blur correction on a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) and on a memory.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-247444 discloses a device that has a camera shake detection sensor (camera shake detection part) which detects camera shake to correct camera blur in images.